Skip navigation.

Active members

potatoes and carrots

Last post 12-09-2012 8:30 PM by Snark. 5 replies.

Page 1 of 1 (6 items)

  • 10/08/2012 08:34 AM
    Not Ranked
    Reply | Contact

    help, this year i tried to grow my potatoes and carrots with any succsess, i have raised beds which measure 6ftx3ftx 3ft deep, i have used a mix of soil and compost to grow them in but there has been hardly any potatoes and the carrots although quite thick at the top have grown about 3inches and then just turned back on themselves, what can i do to get a better yeald 
  • 15/08/2012 08:49 PM
    In reply to
    • Snark
    • Suffolk
    • 12 Jan 2011
    • 266
    Top 50 Contributor
    Reply | Contact

    Potatoes need masses of water but that should hardly have been a problem this year. Did you feed them at all? What varieties were they? Did you have blight problems? The carrots sound as if they may have found the growing medium too heavy or not uniform enough. They like a light sandy or peaty(fenland)soil. I struggle to get good ones on heavy soil even after about 20 years of soil improvement. In raised beds you might get on better with the stubby stump rooted or even round varieties rather than trying for long ones.

    For the Snark was a boojum you see
  • 02/09/2012 10:01 PM
    In reply to
    • Dan Dollin
    • Kilkhampton,Nth Cornwall
    • 24 Jun 2012
    • 5
    Not Ranked
    Reply | Contact

    My potatoes completely failed this year. They were in raised beds and in fertile soil that's been left fallow for 3 years - they should have been a complete success like yours.

    Unfortunately I think it's just been too wet. Here in the South West it's also been very windy, just when they started to get going they got blown around and took quite a beating. Followed by a couple of weeks of what felt like non-stop rain they curled up their leaves and gave up.

    That was with two types, an early and a main.

    Better luck next year!  Yes

    A master at growing brambles!
  • 03/09/2012 10:28 AM
    In reply to
    • Julie
    • London
    • 28 Apr 2009
    • 410
    Top 50 Contributor
    Reply | Contact

    For all the talk about "grow your own" it's bloody difficult. I got about 5 little tomatoes this year from a packet of F1 hybrid seeds that should have yielded about 8 plants. Between the squirrels and other problems I only got 3 plants, only two of which seem to have any tomatoes which have taken forever to grow. I picked the first ones yesterday and about 5 more waiting to ripen although that's looking questionable now with the weather changing.
  • 12/09/2012 06:58 AM
    In reply to
    • Fatcat1955
    • Herts
    • 16 Apr 2012
    • 24
    Top 500 Contributor
    Reply | Contact

    Sound's like the potatoe's were overfed . Thet put on top growth at the expense of the tuber's . You also should only water the spud's when the flower's appear. Give a really good soaking every 2 week's.
  • 12/09/2012 08:30 PM
    In reply to
    • Snark
    • Suffolk
    • 12 Jan 2011
    • 266
    Top 50 Contributor
    Reply | Contact

    For a really decent crop of spuds they need to grow in the ground. All the pretty pictures of huge crops in tubs are a pack of lies. I do grow a few in big pots started in the greenhouse to get first earlies before the Jersey royals are in the shops. The crop is always light but worth it for the taste. I used to grow Swift but it has deteriorated and now crops badly in pots for me. My current best bet is Casa Blanca.Great flavour,nice clean spuds but not by the hundredweight. My other moan is that many commercial "organic" composts do not appear to support plant life in any form.Poor nutrient levels and either extremely poor wettability or so soggy that the roots rot. I grow my spuds in well rotted sheep muck but not everyone has access to that.

    For the Snark was a boojum you see